I bought a used entertainment center at our thrift shop for $15.00 and put my fabric in that. I being able to see it and get it out for audition without any hassle.

I say do it.I had a santa and angel collection and retired them and put my fabric in the cabinet. It is so much better. I tried to give the santas to my grandson and my angels to my granddaughter they said ok, keep them for me. Didn't quite work out like I planned.

Use the hutch.
Sell the shakers for more fabric.

I would pack up what's in the hutch, then use it for fabric!...

Put them in your hutch for awhile. Saw a posting not long ago and it looked great and just seemed nice to get at rather than the tubs.

I love a hutch full of fabric. Plan to do this myself :-D

I use to keep my fabrics in totes I stood the totes on end sorted to colors so I could see what was there and when it was time to move again the tops popped back on and off when we reached our next destination the fabs were still nice and neat. I've been here pert neer 8yrs and even tho I HAD plenty off shelving put in I'm back to the totes for my new over flow.They stash under my sewing tables My DH use to tell me I could organize a rock pile :lol:

don't throw anything out. don't pack anything up. take out the s+p's. put in the fabric and see if you like it. give it two weeks and make up your mind. if you're too crowded, it may not be worth it.

as for the knicknacks, to display them without giving up any space, run a narrow shelf 16" below the ceiling all around the entire room. the shelf should only be about 3" deep. you'll still see the s+p's and they'll be out of the way. use the rest of the shelf space to display whatever. i know it gets dusty, but it's far enough away so nobody sees the dust and if you don't bother anything, the dust stays put and doesn't bother allergies. the high dust in my house hasn't been moved in a long time and nobody sneezes here. a testament to creative homemaking.

what room are you sewing in? did i miss that part?

The tubs are see through so I don't think having it stacked in the hutch would be much easier. I agree that you should just sort it all by color. It really just comes down to what you want to see in the hutch, your collection or your fabric.

I am inspired by my fabrics and have them arranged by color (I'd send you a picture if I knew how to do all that). Tubs don't do anything for me. My fabrics are on a bookshelf in my craft room and they look lovely there. I just "go shopping" in my stash because I can see what I have.